Traditionally, when you’re invited to a birthday party, you bring a gift for the host and nothing more. You usually don’t have to fork over any cash to get through the door. However, one woman saw fit to charge her friends hundreds of dollars to attend her birthday bash.
A confused woman shared the birthday invite she received from one of her friends in Reddit’s “Mildly Infuriating” forum. At first glance, the invitation looked completely normal, with all of the typical elements, some of which were crossed out for privacy reasons.
However, upon closer inspection, there was one section not usually seen on birthday invitations. “Friend $499,” it read. “Guest $250.”
Apparently, this woman believed the best way to entice friends to come to her 2-hour birthday celebration was to charge them nearly $500 for their attendance. Bringing a guest would set them back another couple hundred dollars.
“Friend got elected for city council and purchased a new home and somehow this makes sense to her,” the Redditor wrote. “Gotta pay the mortgage somehow.”
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One user asked, “Where the (expletive) is it? Taj Mahal?” Not quite — the woman confirmed the party was “at a pub downtown.”
After another commenter asked if the party was actually a fundraiser, the woman noted that the host was “structuring” it like one; however, “the money isn’t going anywhere but her personal (account).”
While the Redditor did not make it clear whether or not she plans to fork over the cash to go to the party, many commenters were shocked by the audacity of the party thrower and insisted that they would not attend.
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“There are no people ever I’d pay that for,” one user wrote. Another commenter sarcastically suggested she “contact (her) friend and notify them that someone must have hacked their account because it’s asking for a lot of money to attend a birthday party, which is clearly a scam.”
“From a newly elected city council person, I think this is straight up shady,” another Reddit user wrote. “It makes me think she’s fishing to see who’s willing to bribe her for political favors.”
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If you plan and hold a birthday party, you are accepting the role of host. The Washington Post’s Michelle Singletary said it’s inappropriate to ask others to pay when you’re hosting.
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“I mean that if you send an invitation asking people to attend your fill-in-the-blank occasion, you are therefore the said host of said celebration,” she wrote. “And as host, the expectation is that the folks you are inviting do not pay for the privilege of being in your presence.”
Singletary also pointed out that it is important to make sure the celebration you’re hosting is within your means. In other words, if you don’t have the money to pay for it yourself, you should probably rethink your plans.
One could argue that guests are not required to attend a party, so it’s their choice to come and, by extension, to pay. But how would it feel to receive an invitation from a dear friend only to realize they expected you to pay hundreds of dollars to attend their birthday party?
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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
